Of all the
early breakthrough rock & roll artists, none is more important to the
development of the music than Chuck Berry. He is its greatest songwriter, the
main shaper of its instrumental voice, one of its greatest guitarists, and one
of its greatest performers. Quite simply, without him, there would be no
Beatles, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, nor a myriad others. There would
be no standard "Chuck Berry guitar intro," the instrument's clarion call to get
the joint rockin' in any setting. The clippety-clop rhythms of rockabilly would
not have been mainstreamed into the now standard 4/4 rock & roll beat. There
would be no obsessive wordplay by modern-day tunesmiths; in fact, the whole
history (and artistic level) of rock & roll songwriting would have been much
poorer without him. Like Brian Wilson said, he wrote "all of the great songs and
came up with all the rock'n'roll beats." Those who do not claim him as a seminal
influence or profess a liking for his music and showmanship show their ignorance
of rock's development as well as his place as the music's first great creator.
Elvis may have fueled rock & roll's
imagery, but Chuck Berry was its heartbeat and original mindset.
He was born Charles Edward Anderson Berry to a large family in St. Louis. A
bright pupil, Berry developed a love for poetry and hard blues early on, winning
a high school talent contest with a guitar-and-Vocals rendition of Jay McShann's
big band number, "Confessin' the Blues." With some local tutelage from the
neighborhood barber, Berry progressed from a four-string tenor guitar up to an
official six-string model and was soon working the local East St. Louis club
scene, sitting in everywhere he could. He quickly found out that black audiences
liked a wide variety of music and set himself to the task of being able to
reproduce as much of it as possible. What he found they really liked —
besides the blues and Nat King Cole tunes — was the sight and sound of a black
man playing white hillbilly music, and Berry's showmanlike flair, coupled with
his seemingly inexhaustible supply of fresh verses to old favorites, quickly
made him a name on the circuit. In 1954, he ended up taking over pianist Johnny
Johnson's small combo and a residency at the Cosmopolitan Club soon made the
Chuck Berry Trio the top attraction in the black community, with Ike Turner's
Kings of Rhythm their only real competition.
But Berry had bigger ideas; he yearned to make records, and a trip to Chicago
netted a two-minute conversation with his idol Muddy Waters, who encouraged him
to approach Chess Records. Upon listening to Berry's homemade demo tape, label
president Leonard Chess professed a liking for a hillbilly tune on it named "Ida
Red" and quickly scheduled a session for May 21, 1955. During the session the
title was changed to "Maybellene" and rock & roll history was born. Although the
record only made it to the mid-20s on the Billboard pop chart, its overall
influence was massive and groundbreaking in its scope. Here was finally a black
rock & roll record with across-the-board appeal, embraced by white teenagers and
Southern hillbilly musicians (a young Elvis
Presley, still a full year from national stardom, quickly added it to his
stage show), that for once couldn't be successfully covered by a pop singer like
Snooky Lanson on Your Hit Parade. Part of the secret to its originality was
Berry's blazing 24-bar guitar solo in the middle of it, the imaginative rhyme
schemes in the lyrics, and the sheer thump of the record, all signaling that
rock & roll had arrived and it was no fad. Helping to put the record over to a
white teenage audience was the highly influential New York disc jockey Alan
Freed, who had been given part of the writers' credit by Chess in return for his
spins and plugs. But to his credit, Freed was also the first white DJ/promoter
to consistently use Berry on his rock & roll stage show extravaganzas at the
Brooklyn Fox and Paramount theaters (playing to predominately white audiences);
and when Hollywood came calling a year or so later, also made sure that Chuck
appeared with him in Rock! Rock! Rock!, Go, Johnny, Go!, and
Mister Rock'n'Roll. Within a years' time, Chuck had gone from a local St.
Louis blues picker making 15 dollars a night to an overnight sensation
commanding over a hundred times that, arriving at the dawn of a new strain of
popular music called rock & roll.
The hits started coming thick and fast over the next few years, every one of
them about to become a classic of the genre: "Roll Over Beethoven," "Thirty Days,"
"Too Much Monkey Business," "Brown Eyed Handsome Man," "You Can't Catch Me," "School
Day," "Carol," "Back in the U.S.A.," "Little Queenie," "Memphis, Tennessee,"
"Johnny B. Goode," and the tune that defined the moment perfectly, "Rock and
Roll Music." Berry was not only in constant demand, touring the country on mixed
package shows and appearing on television and in movies, but smart enough to
know exactly what to do with the spoils of a suddenly successful show business
career. He started investing heavily in St. Louis area real estate and, ever one
to push the envelope, opened up a racially mixed nightspot called the Club
Bandstand in 1958 to the consternation of uptight locals. These were not
the plans of your average R&B singers who contented themselves with a wardrobe
of flashy suits, a new Cadillac, and the nicest house in the black section.
Berry was smart with plenty of business savvy and was already making plans to
open an amusement park in nearby Wentzville. When the St. Louis hierarchy found
out that an underage hat-check girl Berry hired had also set up shop as a
prostitute at a nearby hotel, trouble came down on Berry like a sledgehammer on
a fly. Charged with transporting a minor over state lines (the Mann Act), Berry
endured two trials and was sentenced to federal prison for two years as a result.
He emerged from prison a moody, embittered man. But two very important things
had happened in his absence. First, British teenagers had discovered his music
and were making his old songs hits all over again. Second, and perhaps most
important, America had discovered the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, both of
whom based their music on Berry's style, with the Stones' early albums looking
like a Berry song list. Rather than being resigned to the has-been circuit,
Berry found himself in the midst of a worldwide beat boom with his music as the
centerpiece. He came back with a clutch of hits ("Nadine," "No Particular Place
to Go," "You Never Can Tell"), toured Britain in triumph, and appeared on the
big screen with his British disciples in the groundbreaking T.A.M.I. Show
in 1964.
Berry had moved with the times and found a new audience in the bargain and when
the cries of "yeah-yeah-yeah" were replaced with peace signs, Berry altered his
live act to include a passel of slow blues and quickly became a fixture on the
festival and hippie ballroom circuit. After a disastrous stint with Mercury
Records, he returned to Chess in the early '70s and scored his last hit with a
live version of the salacious nursery rhyme, "My Ding a Ling," yielding Berry
his first official gold record. By decade's end, he was as in demand as ever,
working every oldies revival show, TV special, and festival that was thrown his
way. But once again, troubles with the law reared their ugly head and 1979 saw
Berry headed back to prison, this time for income tax evasion. Upon release this
time, the creative days of Chuck Berry seemed to have come to an end. He
appeared as himself in the Alan Freed bio-pic, American Hot Wax, and was
inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but steadfastly refused to record
any new material or even issue a live album. His live performances became
increasingly erratic, with Berry working with terrible backup bands and turning
in sloppy, out-of-tune performances that did much to tarnish his reputation with
younger fans and oldtimers alike. In 1987, he published his first book, Chuck
Berry: The Autobiography, and the same year saw the film release of what will
likely be his lasting legacy, the rockumentary Hail! Hail! Rock'n'Roll,
which included live footage from a 60th-birthday concert with Keith Richards as
musical director and the usual bevy of superstars coming out for guest turns.
But for all of his off-stage exploits and seemingly ongoing troubles with the
law, Chuck Berry remains the epitome of rock & roll, and his music will endure
long after his private escapades have faded from memory. Because when it comes
down to his music, perhaps John Lennon said it best, "If you were going to give
rock & roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'.
He died on March 18, 2017 in St. Louis, Missouri.

NEW JUKE BOX HITS - I'm Talking About You / Diploma Fot Two / Thirtheen Questions Method / Away From You / Don't You Lie To Me / The Way It Was Before / Little Star / Route 66 / Sweet Little Sixteen / Run Around / Rip It Up / Stop And Listen

THE LATEST AND THE GREATEST - Nadine (Is It You) / Fraulein / Guitar Boogie / Things I
Use To Do / Don't You Lie To Me / Driftin' Blues / Liverpool Drive / No
Particular Place To Go / Lonely All The Time / Jaguar And The Thunderbird /
O Rangutang / You Two / Deep Feeling / Bye Bye Johnny

YOU NEVER CAN TELL... - You Never Can Tell
/ Diploma For Two / The Little Girl From Central / The Way It Is Was Before
/ Around And Around / Big Ben / The Promised Land / Back In The U.S.A. / Run
Round / Brenda Lee / Reelin' And Rockin' / Come On

CHUCK BERRY IN LONDON - My Little Lovelight / She Once Was Mine / After Is Over / I Got A Booking / Night Beat / His Daughter Caroline / You Come A Long Way To St Louis / St Louis Blues / Jamaica Farewell / Butterscotch / Dear Dad / The Song Of Love / Why Should We End This Way / I Want To Be Your Driver

CHUCK BERRY A LONDRES - My Little Love Light / She Once Was Mine / After It's Over / I Got A Booking / Night Beat / His Daughter Caroline / You Came A Long Way From St. Louis / St. Louis Blues / Jamaica Farewell / Dear Dad / Butterscotch / The Song Of My Love / Why Should We End This Way / I Want To Be Your Driver

DISC 1 : Carol / You Never Can Tell / No Money Down / Together We Will Always Be / Mad Lad / Run Rudolph Run / Let It Rock / Sweet Little Rock And Roller / It Don't Take But A Few Minutes / I'm Talking About You / Driftin'
Blues / Go Go Go

YOU NEVER CAN TELL - You Never Can Tell / Diploma For Two / The
Little Girl From Central / The Way It Was Before / Big Ben / Promised Land /
Back In The USA / Run Around / Brenda Lee /Reelin' And Rockin'

DISC 1 : Carol / You
never can tell / No money down / Together we will always be / Mad
lad / Run Rudolph run / Let it rock / Sweet little rock and roller /
It don't take but a
few minutes / I'm
talking about you / Driftin' Blues / Go go go

DISC 1 :
Carol / You Never Can Tell / No Money Down / Together We Will Always Be
/ Mad Lad / Run Rudolph Run / Let It Rock / Sweet Little Rock And Roller
/ It Don't Take But A Few Minutes / I'm Talking About You / Driftin'
Blues / Go Go Go

CHUCK BERRY75 - Swanee River / I'm Just A Name / I Just Want Make Love To You / Too Late / South Of The Border / Hi Heel Sneakers / You're My Sunshine / My Babe / Baby What You Want Me To Do / A Deuce / Shake Rattle And Roll / Sue Answer

PROMISED LAND - Promised Land / Carol / Almost Grown / Let It Rock / You Never Can Tell / Reelin' And Rockin' / Little Queenie / Sweet Little Sixteen / It Don't Take But A Few Minutes / Rock And Roll Music / Bye Bye Johnny / School Days

NEW JUKE BOX HITS - I'm Talking About You / Diploma Fot Two / Thirtheen Questions Method / Away From You / Don't You Lie To Me / The Way It Was Before / Little Star / Route 66 / Sweet Little Sixteen / Run Around / Rip It Up / Stop And Listen

ON THE BLUES SIDE - Confessin' The Blues /
Run Around / Worried Life Blues / Things That I Used To Do / Blues For
Hawaiians / Wee Wee Hours / I Still Got The Blues / Down The Road Apiece /
No Money Down / Stop And Listen / Blue On Blue / Sweet Sixteen / I Got To
Find My Baby / I Just Want To Make Love To You / Merry Christmas Baby / Deep
Feeling / Wee Hour Blues / Don't You Lie To Me / Ain't That Just Like A
Woman / Driftin' Blues / Blue Feeling

CHUCK BERRY IN LONDON / FRESH BERRYS - My
Little Love-Light / She Once Was Mine / After It's Over / I Got A Booking /
Night Beat / His Daughter Caroline / You Came A Long Way From St.Louis / St.
Louis Blues / Jamaica Farewell / Dear Dad / Butterscotch / The Song Of My
Love / Why Should We End This Way / I Want To Be Your Driver / It Wasn't Me
/ Run Joe / Everyday We Rock And Roll / One For My Baby (And One For The
Road) / Sad Day-Long Night / It's My Own Business / Right Off Rampart Street
/ Vaya Con Dios / Merrily We Rock And Roll / My Mustang Ford / Ain't That
Just Like A Woman (They'll Do It Every Time) / Wee Hour Blues

THE LATEST AND THE GREATEST / YOU NEVER CAN
TELL... - Nadine / Fraulein / Guitar Boogie / The Things I Used To Do /
Don't You Lie To Me / Driftin' Blues / Liverpool Drive / No Particular Place
To Go / Lonely All The Time / Jaguar And Thunderbird / O Rangutang / You Two
/ Deep Feeling / Bye Bye Johnny / You Never Can Tell / Diploma For Two / The
Little Girl From Central / The Way It Was Before / Around And Around / Big
Ben / The Promised Land / Back In The U.S.A. / Run Around / Brenda Lee /
Reelin' And Rockin' / Come On

BLUES - House Of Blue Lights / Wee Wee
Hours / Deep Feeling [instrumental] / I Just Want To Make Love To You / How
You've Changed / Down The Road A Piece / Worried Life Blues / Confessin' The
Blues / Still Got The Blues / Driftin' Blues / Run Around / Route 66 / Sweet
Sixteen / All Aboard / Things I Used To Do / St. Louis Blues

BEST OF CHUCK BERRY - Johnny B. Goode /
Roll Over Beethoven / School Days / Rock & Roll Music / No Particular Place
To Go / Carol / You Never Can Tell / Promised Land / Sweet Little Rock And
Roller / Too Much Monkey Business

CD 4 : Roll Away / I’m Just A Name / Too Late / Turn On The
Houselights / Heel Sneakers / Jambalaya / The Song Of My Love /
South Of The Border / Swanee River / You Are My Sunshine / Johnny B.
Blues / Dust My Broom / Don’t You Lie To Me / My Babe / Here Today /
I Just Want To Make Love To You / Rockin’ / Shake, Rattle And Roll /
Baby, What You Want Me To Do

DISC 1 :
Everly Brothers :
Wake Up Little Susie / Oh What A Feeling / Brand New Heartache /
When Will I Be Loved / Rip It Up / Since You Broke My Heart / Bird
Dog / Lightning Express / Problems / Like Strangers / This LIttle
Girl Of Mine / Till I Kissed You / All I Have To Do Is Dream / Keep
A Knockin' / Maybe Tomorrow / Claudette / Devoted To You / Poor
Jenny / Let It Be Me / Be-Bop-A-Lula / Take A Message To Mary /
Leave My Woman Alone / I Wonder If I Care As Much / Bye Bye Love